Kisaragi City
"A seaside town near the hills, 2km wide in all directions. From the beautiful dusk it's also called Sunset City. Kisaragi City is small, but has been around for about 150 years. Photos from that time exist but other than that, maps of fields are the only recorded historical documents left. Due to wave height and hills the town isn't suitable as a port but has great views. The town has history, but unfavorable conditions have kept the town's progress slow." Area 1 Civic Hall "A multipurpose facility used to hold art and other such works by townspeople. The artist Fumihiko Maki from Kisaragi has many works there. It also has parts that are used by townspeople as classroom and workshops to teach various classes and their seminars." Cemetary "Anyone living in Kisaragi for over 40 years is entitled to a plot in the cemetery. 'Pay taxes for 40 years, sleep in peace of eternity' is it's motto. But there have been problems. The years before a child becomes and adult must be added to those 40, which wasn't made clear causing Naoya Michida, owner of a shop burned down by an arson, to break the noses of several city officials 10 years ago. His children, who had died in the fire, weren't allowed a burial, so Michida assaulted the officials. Michida was arrested. 5 years ago laws were changed to allow the burial of family members as long as one person fulfills the conditions. There have been no problems since." Chitose Pond "Until 20 years ago, birds swam and young couples paddled boats in this romantic spot. On days off, parents and kids would come and enjoy the warm, fresh air. But now people go to the Y City redlight district to play and kids stay at home with video games. People stopped coming. now, people leave garbage here illegally. The city took action and cleaned up the pond, but now a fence surrounds it, and it's only open between the hours of 9am-5pm. City workers come to open and close the gate twice a day. It's regained it's former beauty, but the townspeople have lost interest and hardly anyone ever comes now." Area 2 AMS Bank "A megabank that came to Kisaragi to absorb the bankrupt Kisaragi Trust Bank. It was founded as Asahi Bank, and later merged with Morgen Sea Bank. Asahi thrived after the 2nd world war, and is famous for remaining unaffected by economic troubles and for fighting off other big banks over the years. The news that Asahi was absorbed by Morgen Sea Bank sent shock waves through the industry. A new megabank with over 1 trillion dollars in deposits was born." Kisaragi Station "When it was first built, it was a high-tech, cutting edge work of modern architecture and art. People from towns all over the area would come to see it, and festivals were held near. The station's front hall wasn't damaged in the war, miraculously, and appears very retro now." Police Station "2 years ago the 4-story concrete building was rebuilt into its more modern incarnate. Patrol cars are parked outside, but in the past decade they've only been sent out several times." City Hall "Formerly a public hall. Famous for holding Zenjiro Murata's 'Eternal Peace' lectures years ago. Murata was a Kisaragi School teacher and famous philosopher. Many people gathered to hear Murata speak as he reached retirement age, and during his lectures the hall was filled with people, yet as quiet as a mouse." Area 3 Production Art Foreign artist Arthur Mays, looking up to Kisaragi artist F. Maki, moved to Kisaragi and now runs this arthouse. Moist of Fumihiko Maki's work is in the country, but a painting called 'Girl and the Wind' was shown in Arthur's town when he was a child, which changed his life. This set him on the path to artistry and made him decide to someday live in the town portrayed in the picture. Arthur is now using his free time to teach art at Kisaragi School. He's 28 but looks younger. He's quiet and introverted but doesn't seem to actually dislike people. As a child he was sick and spent most of his time indoors, which is why his social skills are somewhat lacking. But being a world famous artist, some wonder why he lives in Kisaragi. Post Office "Managed by Shigeru Enokida, 45, divorced. Seemingly normal, except for being a religeous fanatic of sorts. He generally joins and becomes infatuated with a new religion every 5 years. Each time he swears it is the 'real thing,' but always loses interest in each religion and finds a new one. He never tried to recruit his staff but often hangs creepy posters around the office. He decorates the office with his own money. He believes this will cause the post office to be protected by God. Being very weird but benign, everyone just pretends they don't notice." Pumpkin Witch "Area 3 was designed to be a business area, and it holds various IT, animation, and SFX offices. The comic shop 'Pumpkin Witch' is the oldest among them. Meilin Fu, owner of 'Pumpkin Witch' is a girl from China. She's always loved comics and cartoons, and even learned English from cartoons. Because of that obsessions she went against her family and came to Japan to open Pumpkin Witch, which succeeded more than expected. She now enjoys a rich, full life surrounded by cartoons." Sweet Ring "Owner and baker Kenichi Mido took a trip around the world when he was young. While in France he learned baking from a famous Paris baker, and through hard work and perseverance became a top class baker. After seeing the smiling faces of kids eating sweets, he decided he wanted to bring smiles to people for the rest of his life as a baker." YUZI "A shop recently opened in Area 3. The owner, Yuzi Okura, is famous for starting a new shop every few years. His parents originally ran a supermarket here, and they were extremely warm and kind to the townspeople. When they retired they were very sad, but their son Yuzi told them 'You've worked hard, leave the rest to me!' and when they told their customers about this, everyone celebrated. Since then, Yuzi's parents mainly stay at their home in Y City, but sometimes come to help during busy times of the year. The shop gradually died down. Unlike his parents Yuzi believed that business consists of 'Buy and Sell,' and his way of running the place is cold and greedy, unbecoming of a small town supermarket. He tried to sell different types of products, but business kept dwindling. Yuzi insisted that it was due to 'changing times,' and has since been trying out different shops." Area 4 TOY BOX "'TOY BOX' is a game center backed by a well-known game maker, and it's constant inflow of new games makes it popular in Area 4. Recently, 'Nosferatu,' an online action game, is most popular." Seagull "'Seagull' is Kisaragi's local TV station located in Area4. A woman named Razzly is the reporter, and is old friends with Shunichi Inagaki. Agreeing with Shunichi's idea of making a news station for young people Razzly left a major TV station and came to Kisaragi. She brings in many famous people as guests." South End "Young people call the Area 4 corner with many theaters and studios the 'South End.' South End is famous for two things: 'Cinema Road,' the indie movie theater, and a film editing studio. This began when a woman named Yumiko Sakai opened Cinema Road. She worked for years under Japanese director Hiroki Unemura. It was said that wherever Uemura was, she was there too, and the two made many famous movies together. Once Uemura died, many film studios tried to recruit her as a top director. But she refused them and stopped making films, deciding to focus on giving young people more opportunities to encounter and make films. She came to Area 4 five years ago. She's known for finding obscure and cultish indie films before anyone else, and is known to this day as 'Uemura's right hand woman.' She gives free lectures to aspiring young directors and lends out expensive equipment, and South End is a creators' hotspot." Deep Sea "Shunich Inagaki, owner of live house Deep Sea, was a singer in a rock band, but was never so interested in music. He wanted to stand out, and decided to join a band. When he was 25, he thought about his future and quit the band, deciding he needed to do something else. His band was somewhat popular, and would fill up smaller live houses, so his band mates were against breaking up, but Inagaki was adamant. But he had no desire to become a company man: he still wanted to stand out. What's when he discovered and old rundown building in Area 4. Area 4, when Y City's pier was bustling, was once filled with trucks and workers coming and going 24 hours a day, but was now quiet and dead. Inagaki rented out two buildings for next to nothing, in order to set up a live house and import CD shop. He called on his pals in the industry and decided to make Area 4 the new spot for young people. In two years Area 4 came back to life." Area 5 DAY&NIGHT "Convenience store on Rout 203 in Area 5. Three years ago Kunio Hoshino quit the army and built the store. Hoshino had always wanted to run a business. He joined the army soon after high school and spent 20 years taking orders and acting like a robot. This let him to dream of one day being at the top of his own chain of command, and he chose to do that by running a convenience store. He bought cheap land and a franchise shop, and his store is in a good area. But Hoshino has one bad habit: an obsession with cleanliness. Unsatisfied with hired cleaners, he buys his own equipment and does all cleaning himself. He starts cleaning at 5am, regardless of the customers who may be there. He can't stand young people eating and drinking outside, which caused problems at first, and though he's calmed down a bit, first time visitors sometimes get a shock at his periodic freak-outs." Tower "AKA the Jumping Tower. Why the Jumping Tower? A crane operator who was constructing the Tower drunkenly climbed to the top, and after seven hours of police lecturing, jumped to his death." This is place known to be famous because this is where many suicides were committed. It is also, according to Nami, a place where many cats gather. Shinsei Hospital "Protestant ministers founded a small hospital after the war, and it has since thrived and grown into the huge general hospital it is today. The hospital was turned over to the government and has since been run by Kisaragi City. The largest hospital in Kisaragi City, it has state of the art facilities and is popular with the townspeople." Tazaki Ind. "This was once a shop filled with scrap metal and broken appliances, where Hiroshi Tazaki fixed home electronics and motorcycles. Once people noticed he was forcing new parts and useless repairs on them, business dropped and no one came around anymore. No one likes Tazaki. No one knows what he does for money and his shop is an eyesore. He has since quit gathering scrap materials and now breeds pets. He's still hated, but since no one comes into contact with him his business is doing OK". Area 6 Rainbow Hill "Only a small park with a tiny shrine and a shed, but with an amazing view of the sea that draws amateur cameramen from all over." Kisaragi School "European style building near the sea. Called "The Tower" by the townspeople. It was built a century ago, copied from English architecture. The first public boarding school, it boasts top class teachers and classes in science, math, literature, and art. The school has remained the same through both World Wars, and continues to watch over the town even now, in it's 100th year." According to Rui, it is also called "The Tower" by the people because of it's European appearance that makes it look like a castle or manor that witches & knights would be found. Triple Step "Burger shop with a huge snowman as its logo. Famous for its 3-story Triple Step Burger and Triple King Ice, its low price makes it popular with young people. It's also known for its yummy salads, which are also huge, and excellent dressings. Many students of Kisaragi School stop by to hang out on their way home from school." Yuhigaoka Park It was built 40 years ago as a modern and fashionable housing complex, and it was popular with young couples. The park is small but close to the homes, and since kids from other areas don't use it the children in the nearby homes love it. Kids from other areas are generally afraid to go there at night. The red twilight covers the area, and it looks as though it's a completely different world. It also becomes pitch black at night. Since a child disappeared there several years ago, parents usually don't let their kids go there alone. Area 7 Company F "Company F is inside a building full of small offices. It's famous for 100% correct fortune-telling. Inside is very fashionable, and doesn't look like a fortuneteller's shop. At first, it appears to be a graphic design office, and the crystal ball on the table & strange pictures on the wall make it seem like an eccentric graphic designer's room." St. Maria Church A Catholic cathedral. Relatively new, it was built 30 years ago. Until then, it was the European style Misaki House, where garden parties, Sunday mass, Christmas and Halloween events were held. Once it was finally made into a church, as was originally planned, it's been largely left alone by the townspeople. The townspeople view it as a proper religious place as opposed to a weird cult, and recently women suffering from DV (domestic violence) and victims of child abuse are taken care of there. Sometimes Mrs. Misaki can be seen putting up a new sign, or ordering around the other wives. Meiko Elementary The elementary school that Nami Kamishiro attends. The handrail atop Rainbow Hill leads down to Meiko Elementary. The school merged with another school in Area 2, forming a school with two classes per year. Before the merger, there was an incident at the Area 2 school, in which chickens and rabbits from the school garden went missing. The school covered the incident up. Soejima Mansion "The former mansion of statesman Eijiro Soejima. His father, Soichiro Soejima was famous for helping to fund Kisaragi Station & Kisaragi School. Both father & son were amazingly clean politicians, and worked hard for the country. This house was even purchased at a fair price, without political power used at all. But their lives were not as happy as they would seem, with so much power & cash. Soichiro's oldest son died of disease at 2, and his 2nd son was with him when he was gunned down by a maniac, and died together with him. Eijiro Soejima came into the family by marrying Soichiro's daughter. He was also a politician, but death followed him, too. He was a serious, hard worker, but Soichiro's daughter was not. When her husband was gone, she'd bring men over & have her way. One day Eijiro came home & caught her with one, and he shot them both dead before hanging himself in the back room." Tohodo Bookstore "An old bookstore with a 70+ year history. Before the war, Yosuke Unami taught history at Kisaragi school, and upon retiring founded Tohodo as a cram school. Next to the school he also opened a bookstore using most of his retirement fund. With a wide selection of old books, all kinds of people began to shop here. The school lasted until 20 years ago and the shop lasted to the day Yosuke died. His son was a scientist & had his own business, so Yosuke gave the shop to his grandson, Ryo Unami. The building is a 3 story brick structure with much space inside. It's a quiet place. It looks more like a small English school library than a bookstore. There are no comics, and a female college student works part-time."